Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 28:3 (Summer 2014)
Article: What About Deborah?
Author: J. G. Brown

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PP 28:3 (Summer 2014) p. 26

What About Deborah?

J. G. Brown

J. G. Brown holds master’s degrees from Washington University, Saint Louis, and the University of Florida, Gainesville, and is retired from a career of teaching history on the high school and community college levels. J. G. resides with her husband, Bob, in St. Louis, Missouri.

Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came to her for judgment. (Judges 4:4-5, NASB)

Thus begins the story of Deborah—and a primary reason why I am a biblical egalitarian. Shortly after I became a Christian in 1969, the “culture wars” over women in the church began to rage. Hierarchists developed a theological defense of female subordination centered on the creation order. This, I was told, was the traditional position of the church through the ages and could only be overthrown by a wanton disregard for Scripture. Male headship/ female subordination (in the church and home) was absolute, for all times, and ordained of God. This was, however, a spiritual headship and did not apply to the world outside the home and the church. I would have accepted this reading of Scripture (initially) except for one big stumbling block. What about Deborah?

Like Samuel after her (1 Sam 3:20; 7:15), Deborah was both a prophet and a judge. The prophets of the Old Testament represented the voice of God to the people, outside the traditional corridors of authority. They did more “forth-telling” than foretelling, although they often did both. One could easily argue that, if there were ever a true theocracy, it was Israel under the judges. (In 1 Samuel 8:7, when the people clamored for a king, God told Samuel that the people “have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.”) Consequently, the office of judge carried with it both civil and spiritual authority. The Book of Judges makes it very clear that Deborah was appointed to leadership by God. No hierarchist has ever given a satisfactory answer to the question, “What about Deborah?” Why would God deliberately violate a principle he had established as inviolable?

Hierarchists often avoid the problem of Deborah altogether. When they do tackle it, they come up with a great variety of constrained arguments. None is convincing. Author and preacher John MacArthur omits Deborah from his book Twelve Extraordinary Women, How God Shaped Women of the Bible and What He Wants to Do with You....

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